Character Creation

[finarvyn]

Joseph provides some excellent information about Character Generation in the Combat thread and I thought it would be nice to start up a new one rather than allow that cool stuff to get lost in the middle of something else. (Now, if I was a Moderator I could just snip threads....)

The character construction is pretty simple so it's not too confusing to play a couple characters. I usually start players off with three 0-level characters. 1 or 2 of them survive to achieve level 1. Those guys level up, and most players in the level 1 game have 1 or 2 PCs. If somebody loses his past PC, another player "donates" his extra. The way it all shakes out is that everybody ends up with at least 1 character.

In the early days of D&D, we all rolled dice and crossed our fingers and were excited to see what D&D character we rolled up. Remember the good old days of rolling up PC after PC hoping to get an 18 in something -- anything! Even just 16+ on one stat would be cool. Then D&D evolved into what is now effectively a points-buy system, even though we don't call it that: you roll dice that are biased toward higher stats (4d6 and drop the lowest, or a fixed distribution of scores, or some other variant of that idea), you pick which stat you assign them to, your skills/feats/powers are balanced based on mathematical algorithms (which are occasionally divulged by the designers), and so on. From an evolutionary perspective D&D has gone full circle from its origin point as a balanced wargame (Chainmail and pre-Chainmail entities) to a randomized RPG (early editions) back to a balanced wargame (4E). For players who enjoy a wargame style of play, that's okay. But it results in a couple things that don't match the personal play style I prefer: players tend to play the exact same character every time (you can continually build the same specialized mage, fighter, whatever), and there's very little unpredictability in the game - it's more like a wargame, frankly.

Anyway, I'm rambling a little here, but my goal is to take a step back from that wargame vibe. From 4E to DCC RPG will be the same evolutionary step that happened from early wargames to Chainmail to D&D, back in the early 1970's. Getting back on topic, from a character creation point of view, stats are determined randomly (3d6 straight down the line), and the combination of multiple PCs and high death rates at low levels means your resulting character is ALSO determined randomly. You may start out with a blacksmith, an elf ranger, and a farmer. By the time they finish the first adventure, you're left with one or maybe two of them -- you can't predict which ones -- and that's your character, with his 3d6-down-the-line stats and battle scars from his first level 0 expedition. What class do you pick? Well, between his Luck score (which influences some element of potential class choice...more on that later) and his native abilities (high Str? high Int? etc.), there will probably be a class that seems like a natural choice. But the party must be balanced! And not every one of the party's 0-level PCs will be perfectly suited to every class. So you may end up with a character who's not optimized for his class. In fact, you probably WILL end up with a non-optimal character. And, frankly, that's a lot of fun.

I played one game where the pool of surviving 0-level characters included one PC who was the obvious choice for party wizard, since he was the only one with a double-digit Int. So he became the wizard. But he also had the highest Strength in the party, and it was higher than his Int! How often do you get a wizard with a higher Str score than his Int? It was fun - it was like Conan the Wizard - and it was the kind of character build you NEVER get in modern D&D games.

And I had another game where a player had two really great 0-level characters -- several double-digit stats, generally looked like they had great prospects -- but throughout the game, it was his third, absolutely terrible character, the one with multiple single-digit stats and a "3" in something (I forget which stat it was, but the fact that he even had a 3 made this player write him off from the beginning) -- well, the absolutely terrible PC was the one who consistently excelled in the game. Great rolls, great luck, he pulled off a couple awesome moves that saved the party...and by the time it came to level up, that player was more attached to the "terrible character" than the better ones. Again, something you never see in modern D&D games.

So, to answer your question in a roundabout way, I encourage players to start with a couple 0-level PCs, then there's kind of a natural "funnel" that results in each player having their own primary PC after a couple games, and that PC typically ends up with a clear identity and a fun back story.

[finarvyn]

From an evolutionary perspective D&D has gone full circle from its origin point as a balanced wargame (Chainmail and pre-Chainmail entities) to a randomized RPG (early editions) back to a balanced wargame (4E).

I've often thought the same thing, but you have to admit that 4E looks nothing like Chainmail.

Even back in '74 we moved D&D away from a miniatures contest as quickly as possible. Our group, at least, preferred the abstraction of a verbal game to the visual concreteness of a wargame. The DM would have to describe the situation, allow players to imagine it, then they would act. The closest we ever got to a miniatures session was when I'd sketch a room on notebook paper and each player would place a die on the page to represent their character. Nothing as fancy as painted minis on a battleboard until we tried HeroQuest (and more recently 4E). Even with our 4E game, we tried the minis for a few sessions and then moved back to an abstract style because the minis were slowing things down way too much.

from a character creation point of view, stats are determined randomly (3d6 straight down the line), and the combination of multiple PCs and high death rates at low levels means your resulting character is ALSO determined randomly. You may start out with a blacksmith, an elf ranger, and a farmer. By the time they finish the first adventure, you're left with one or maybe two of them -- you can't predict which ones -- and that's your character, with his 3d6-down-the-line stats and battle scars from his first level 0 expedition.

I encourage players to start with a couple 0-level PCs, then there's kind of a natural "funnel" that results in each player having their own primary PC after a couple games, and that PC typically ends up with a clear identity and a fun back story.

That’s an interesting concept and certainly a different twist than what you find in most conventional RPGs. Character creation becomes a test of attrition from the onset and which character you get to play long-term stays a mystery for a while.

In many modern RPGs, our group often spends the first gaming session doing character creation. In effect, the DCC RPG does the same thing only we're playing characters instead of talking about characters. An interesting shift in design.

[moes1980]

So thats why every one is calling it a "funnel" process! That sounds like wicked fun! It just dares you to throw caution to the wind, go all out, and have a great time!

[finarvyn]

Yeah. You start with a bunch of characters and pour them through the funnel to see who comes out the other end.

It really has been fun so far. Of course, running though piles of level-0 dudes each time you start a new campaign may get old fast, it's too early to tell. So far, at least, we've had a blast with it!

[Ravenheart87]

Of course, running though piles of level-0 dudes each time you start a new campaign may get old fast, it's too early to tell.

Usually you won't start a new campaign every few months - unless you write TPK centric adventures and start every new character from level 0.

[Black Dougal]

I love the Character Creation Funnel!!!!

It is, in my not so humble opinion, one of the most inventive (and wicked cool fun) parts of the game.

I have been through the funnel once. It was a total blast. I had to make three new characters half-way through because Harley killed off all three of my starting PCs. It was one of the best roleplaying experiences that I have had in years.